Restaurant Business Growth Strategies with Sava Lelcaj
Sava Lelcaj is the founder and CEO of The Pulpo Group, a $25M hospitality company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An Albanian immigrant and self‑made entrepreneur, she started her journey at 20 with a tiny café and no formal business background. At 25, after losing the lease on her 10‑table café, she convinced investors to give her the keys to a 300‑seat restaurant and somehow made it work.
Today, she leads a portfolio of restaurants, guest houses, a working farm, and commercial real estate. Sava didn’t have capital, investors, or even a laptop when she started; she scaled through sheer grit and determination.
She shares more of her story and strategies in her episode on the Beyond a Million podcast, offering an inside look at what it really takes to build and scale in the hospitality industry.
When entrepreneurs talk about restaurant business growth strategies, they often focus on flashy marketing campaigns or raising capital. But for Sava Lelcaj, growth comes from something far more practical: systems, people, and innovation. In her own words, she’s learned how to step out of the weeds and build restaurants that thrive without her in every detail.
How Personalization Helped Sava Grow Her Restaurants
One of Sava’s most powerful strategies for growth is personalizing the customer journey. As she explains, “Texting them before their reservation… keeping profiles on guests so that we can really improve that… Whatever data we’re collecting at the table is going into our system so we can be building a profile… and further personalizing the experience.” This approach transforms a simple transaction into a relationship. By capturing small details and acting on them, restaurants can build loyalty that scales into repeat revenue and higher lifetime value.
Personalization doesn’t require huge budgets. It requires consistency. Every touchpoint becomes an opportunity to gather insights and turn them into meaningful action. For restaurant owners, the takeaway is clear: growth starts with caring at scale.
Getting Out of the Weeds so the Business Can Grow
Owners often get stuck inside their own restaurants. Sava was no exception. She recalls, “I finally get Armando, and I said, Yeah, I need you to get me out of the kitchen. And he successfully did.” That single decision of hiring an operator freed her to focus on growth rather than operations.
Scaling a restaurant means identifying where the owner is the bottleneck and bringing in the right operator to take ownership. It’s not just about hiring, it’s about trusting someone to lead. When the owner steps back from the day-to-day, the restaurant gains room to expand.
Turning One Location into a Lab for New Ideas
Innovation is another key piece of the restaurant growth puzzle. Sava created a low-risk playground for testing ideas before rolling them out across her brand. “I always looked at [Babo] like… our R&D facility… Aventura would have never been born had we not had that meat and cheese counter at babo… I always say, Aventura was born at the cheese counter at babo.”
This mindset—treating one location, product, or department as an R&D lab—allows restaurant owners to experiment safely. By proving concepts in a controlled environment, restaurants can scale only what works. The result? A cycle of innovation that fuels long-term growth without exposing the entire business to unnecessary risk.
Bringing It All Together
Restaurant business growth strategies don’t happen by accident. As Sava Lelcaj shows, it’s about building systems that personalize the customer experience, hiring leaders who replace you in the bottlenecks, and creating a sandbox where innovation can thrive. These lessons are actionable for any restaurant entrepreneur ready to grow beyond their current level.
The question isn’t whether your restaurant can grow, it’s whether you’re willing to step back, systemize, and innovate the way Sava did. If you want more strategies like these, subscribe to the Beyond a Million newsletter, where 7, 8, and 9-figure entrepreneurs share the real-world lessons that can help you scale your business.
